Review: Dead Poetic - Four Wall Blackmail

artist: dead poetic album: four wall blackmail label: solid state records released: 6/4/02 by: rob tatum I first heard Dead Poetic at their show with Zao in July. I was pretty impressed by the performance. (See my show review) When I got home I did some research and found out some more information. The band is on Solid State Records (one of the biggest Christian labels). This sometimes can put a damper on how much I like a band, but not Dead Poetic. I downloaded an mp3 that night and read the lyrics, surprisingly not preachy. They are Christian, but you probably wouldn’t know from the music. Anyway, this spawned me to go pick up their new album, Four Wall Blackmail. The album opens with the song "Burgundy," a catchy, emotional sing along. Lyrics include, “When you cried, when died, when you told me you’d open my eyes, I believed you.” The music is melodic and simple (as much of the album is). It’s pretty heavy, but it doesn’t sound as heavy because of the vocals, which are very melodic with background screams. This is one of the best songs on the album; my only complaint is that it is so simple. The chorus repeats over and over and the music fails to progress. Second is "The Corporate Enthusiast." A less melodic anthem that describes the problems with the music industry. The message behind the song is justified, but the music is awful. Almost redundant punk at times. The intro vocals are awful as well, like bad screamo. Lead singer Brandon Rike must have forgotten what he was good at because half this song is just obnoxious. The only good part of the song besides the motive of the lyrics is the bridge with some decent guitar stringwork. The third song starts off with some of the problems from the previous. Too much of the screams and not enough melody. But it improves. A Green Desire is one of the best sounding songs on the album, but the lyrics seem to be about God, or coincidentally a girl that would guide you to the answers. Haha. The music is simple, but fits the vocals well in the melodic parts of the song. The screaming has got to go by this point in the album. It just doesn’t work with the music. Next is the title track, "Four Wall Blackmail." This is the longest song on the album. It begins with some string work on the guitar. This song has the best intro of any song on the album. The screaming doesn’t stop, but seems to fit a little better in this song. This is one of my favorite songs from this album, even though the song does involve many references to God. The song is very well arranged and it is very melodic. The music isn’t that complex and the lyrics aren’t to my preference, but this is one song that demonstrates Dead Poetic’s ability to make good sounding music. It’s catchy and pleasing to the ear. Fifth is "August Winterman." The track is another well arranged piece. Nothing amazing musically, but that’s about how the whole album is. Lyrics include “Perfect, as if my wings worked like yours…but I’m falling down…..it’s a disease they’ll never have a cure for.” It’s hard to tell what the lyrics are about in this song, but this is my favorite song vocally (*I’m big on good sounding vocals*). The background screams actually mesh with the music and singer Brandon Rike sticks to what he is good at for most the song. "Ottie Olsen" is the name of the sixth track. It has the worst intro of any of the songs on this album, and the verse isn’t much better. They should have saved the chorus for another song and thrown the rest of it out the window. The vocals in everything but the chorus are terrible. The music isn’t much better. It is plain, fast, and downright annoying. Listening to this song is frustrating because the chorus is really good. The seventh song, "Bliss Tearing Eyes," is an all acoustic track. Very emo in everything about it. Some of the lyrics are “Cause you bleed all the time. The pieces of a broken heart are wasted time. And I can’t forgive myself for all the things I’ve done. But you, you do.” I’ll let you decided what that is about. It’s a toss up, but being from a Solid State band, I am going to go with the song being about God. It’s a nice change of pace and I really like Brandon’s voice. Next up is "Stereochild," which, from the lyrics, is ironically about the problems I speak of with Christian bands and their preaching. Or at least from my perspective. Dead Poetic’s lyrics are hard to interpret but you would have to listen to this album to understand what I am talking about. This is another catchy song, but the background screams are a little overused. "Arlington Arms" starts with terrible, boring driving guitar and those horrible screams. The verse and chorus of the song are a little easier to swallow as it gets a tad more melodic. Another lyrical change as this one is about Suburbia and the American dream. The lyrics are a nice change of pace, but the intro ruins the song. The final track, "Tell Myself Goodbye," is another lyrical enigma in terms of motivation. There is really good drum work toward the beginning of the song, about the only thing I noticed about the drums throughout the record, as it isn’t just builds or blast beats. Nothing special about this song. Typical melodic song with screaming backing vocals. This band has a ton of potential. The oldest member of the band is only 23, and the rest are like 19. If they figure out what is going for them and get rid of the boring redundancy of the screams, they will go far. They are really good at writing catchy songs, but some of the parts don’t fit. I recommend this to anyone who likes emo-core, but they don’t use the screams properly. I am anxious to see where this band progresses. Not a bad album by any means. favorite song: "august winterman" rating: 77%/100% listen to dead poetic

Review: Keepsake - Black Dress in a B Movie

artist: keepsake album: black dress in a b movie label: fearless records released: 6/11/02 by: rob tatum I am not really sure how many of you have actually heard the band Keepsake, but let me tell that it is pretty hard to track down their material. I finally found their new CD. For those of you who haven’t heard Keepsake, the band was emo-core, and they played very catchy songs about girls for the most part. Most of their older material included very poppy vocals mixed with occasional hardcore screams and crazy guitar work. Well, throw half of that out the door. The latest release, Black Dress in a B Movie is about 100% emo. No more cool backing vocals, no more crazy guitar work. This CD really disappointed me. It’s 10 songs with a really cheesy drum solo at the end of the last song. The drumming isn’t terrible, but who puts a drum solo on their album?? The whole album is mellower than any of their previous releases. The aforementioned hardcore screaming really added to the prowessof the band. None of the tracks are really bad, but there is nothing left to surprise you or anything. I don’t have a favorite song because nothing stands out to me. To be honest I thought it was really boring. The lyric writing of Shane Halpern is still really cool, and it has progressed from the basic love song, to deep, thought out feelings. However, it’s not enough to entertain me in the slightest. If any of you have heard their full length right before this, The End of Sound, you would understand my perspective. Musically the band is really talented, but the guitars aren’t used to their potential at all. The bass and drums play a much bigger part in this albumthan in the past, but it needs more guitar work. Not the worst album I have bought lately, but by far the worst release thus far for Keepsake. rating: 73%/100% listen to keepsake

Review: Qualm - Long Story Short

artist: qualm album: long story short label: not bad records by: rob tatum Well, for those of you that have been around long enough to remember Qualm of say 1997 or so, then you know what Qualm was about…… Now enter 2002 with an open mind…… This new album is a new direction for Qualm. Even as a long time fan, Long Story Short blew me away. I think that this album is Qualm’s way of saying to everyone that they are serious about making music and that they are here to stay. The album consists of ten songs, plus one secret joke track. The secret track might be their way of reminding people that while they are serious about their music, that it’s okay to have some fun now and then. My favorite song on the album is the third track “Bring Down.” The song is about the corruption of parts of the music scene. It focuses on the people only involved for money. The message is far more serious than the days of songs about Hanson and what not. Not only do the lyrics demonstrate a new direction, the music has progressed as well since the last EP. You can expect more dimensions to the music from the Qualm of the past. I also really liked the cover song. The ninth track is a cover of Lifetime’s “Young, Loud, and Scotty.” The song was probably my favorite song by Lifetime, and for someone to bring it back and introduce it to more people is great. Anyone who has “heard” Qualm, needs to hear this record. It is not the best album I have ever listened to by any means, but it provides new potential in our scene and shows that there are quality bands making quality records. rating: 83%/100%

Review: Hot Cross - A New Set of Lungs

artist: hot cross album: a new set of lungs label: level plane records released: by: eduardo moutinho How to describe this band… Hmm… I don’t know if you can really capture this band’s sound and essence with words. This band is really interesting. Yeah. They are interesting. That’s a good way of putting it. The first time I heard this band, I wanted to call them a grindcore band, but as I listened to them some more, I changed my mind in the most extreme of fashions. I can’t really say they’re a grindcore band, but I can’t say they’re not. Maybe I can call them post-hardcore, but that is too general. Eh, it doesn’t matter. This band has so many different elements to it, which contribute to why I think they’re worth talking about. Hot Cross’ CD, A New Set of Lungs, is quite a work. This seven-song, 14-minute-long, barrage of sound is an almost academic listen. Each song has little to do with the other, as the band experiments with all sorts of different sounds, tempos, styles, and whatnot. There’s a lot of screeching guitars, choppy licks and even choppier drums, frantic screaming, tempo changes, catchy string parts, and interesting chord progressions. This band goes all over the place on this record. The first song on the CD, “Born on the Cusp” is all about quickness. I could imagine this band playing the song live and how insane it would be. Song number two, “History Fell in the Heart Broke Open” starts fast and then slows down, and ends with an awesome exchange of hard guitars and interesting string parts. The third song, “Between Minutes and Miles” is slower, and even starts with a bass line as the main player. The fourth song, “Lend Me Your Brain,” is more on the chaotic end. The album goes on like this until the end… The best song on this album, as far as my opinion is concerned, is “Putting the Past Right.” I absolutely love the beginning chord progression, which is also used right at the end of the song. It is awesome. The transition between this part, and the string part that follows it, is done abruptly and effectively. This song grabs you. When I heard it, I wanted to hear this band more. It managed to wiggle into my head, like some kind of parasite, and make a home, very good stuff indeed. Also, the song summarizes the band’s sound on this CD nicely, it has choppy and fast parts along with the slower elements. The musicality of the band is good; for this sound to be achieved, you need good musicians. It requires fast playing, good timing, and a good grasp of music theory. The vocalist has a somewhat high-pitched, indie rock-sounding, voice. His singing is segmented, and hard to describe, like the band’s sound. Honestly, I do have a few problems with this release. Firstly, the drumming is impressive, for the most part, but a lot of parts sound too similar to each other. The “ta-TA ta-ta-TA ta-ta-TA ta-ta-TA” kind of rhythm is used in multiple songs. It becomes off putting after a while. I know using “tas” is not a good way of making an accurate mental picture of this rhythm, but it becomes apparent once you listen to the album. Maybe this comes from their grindcore influences; no matter what, I grew a bit tired of it. Also, I wish there was more melody in the album. “Putting the Past Right” has great incorporation of a melodic chord progression in the beginning, which really makes the song shine. There are hints of melody throughout the record as well. If that was exploited a bit more, the music would be more captivating. In conclusion, I really commend this band for their experimentation. I generally don’t like bands of this nature, yet I really like Hot Cross. In fact, I can see them as a transitional band for me, one that opens the door to some things that I would not have wanted to look into previously. I definitely plan on listening to this release more, and absorbing its uniqueness. favorite song: "putting the past right" rating: 85%/100% listen to hot cross

Review: Glassjaw - Worship and Tribute

artist: glassjaw album: worship and tribute label: warner brothers/i am released: 7/9/02 by: eduardo moutinho On Tuesday, July 9th, Glassjaw’s new album, Worship and Tribute, was released on Warner Brothers/I AM Records. I rushed immediately to the new Best Buy in Denver West during lunch to pick up the CD. Fortunately, it was on sale for $9.99. The first thing I noticed about the album wasn’t music related, rather package-related. The album has no booklet that accompanies it. Instead, they placed a clear sleeve with a record player needle drawn on it. The CD itself looks like a mini-record, and the package like a record player. It’s an interesting design, but I was angry that the lyrics weren’t included in a booklet. Anyway, I drove back to work and I popped the CD into the computer in my office. I expected WinAMP to open and start playing the CD, but immediately I got a Flash program with the Glassjaw logo and some options. These options turned out to include the lyrics, which was great. Also, there are three videos included on the CD for the songs “Cosmopolitan Blood Loss,” “Ape Dos Mil,” and “Must Have Run All Day.” The actual videos for “Ape Dos Mil” and “Must Have Run All Day” consisted of concert footage, while “Cosmopolitan Blood Loss” was an actual MTV-style music video. I found these multimedia enhancements to the CD nice, and they replaced the need for a booklet while giving you a glimpse at the band’s stage show. Glassjaw’s sophomore outing proves to be an evolution for the already revolutionary band. The guitar work, percussion, and vocals are even more interesting and aggressive. The album starts off with the song “Tip Your Bartender,” a relentlessly chaotic opening number that smacks you in the head and puts you in your place. It’s probably the hardest song that Glassjaw has ever done. Daryl Palumbo, Glassjaw’s vocalist, wails at high pitches for the duration of the song, straying away from his normal singing voice, even during the more melodic parts of the song. Nevertheless, the album starts off on a strong note, and is a good indicator of what’s to come. The best song on the album turns out to be “Cosmopolitan Blood Loss.” In my opinion, this is the best Glassjaw song ever, if not one of the best songs ever. In one word, the song is awesome. This is one of those songs that if you listen to it once, you’ll probably listen to it over and over again because it’s so damn good. At least that’s what it’s like with me. The guitar work in the song is spectacular. Sporadically placed harmonies followed by crunchy riffs followed by an even stronger chorus make up the meat of the song. I can’t just say that about one song though, the whole album shows off the band’s musicianship. The songs show off the talent of guitar duo Justin Beck and Todd Weinstock. The bass in the album is excellent, since Dave Allen (Glassjaw’s bass player) knows that a good bass player doesn’t just follow the guitar lines. He goes out on his own and orchestrates groove-laden bass line after groove-laden bass line. It’s fantastic. He’s one of the best out there. Even Glassjaw’s drummer, Larry Gorman, shows his skill for once on Worship and Tribute. He really shows that he isn’t as simple of a drummer as I thought he was. To see what I mean, listen to “Mu Empire.” There’s some great tom and bass work in the song. Anyway, the ability of the band is impressive. I absolutely love the strings; I wish I had some of that talent. Although I’m ranting and raving about the instruments, I can’t overlook Palumbo’s vocal mastery. He’s definitely a different kind of vocalist, the kind which you either love or hate. The closest person I can compare him to is Chino Moreno. I know that raises up the red flag with a lot of people, but I love Chino, and I love Palumbo. He does a lot of peculiar, but cool, iterations. He’ll go from low to high to low to high; it’s very hard to explain. Sometimes he’ll pronounce words in a strange manner on purpose. He does a lot of emotional singing, and a lot of carefully placed screaming. I think his vocal styling is unique and interesting, just like the instrumental aspect. It’s a strange combination that works exceptionally well. Anyway, going back to the album, this is one of those albums with a ridiculous amount of good songs. This isn’t one of those “this album is crap, except for that one song” kind of releases. This is worth the money all the way. I’ll just list all of the good songs on the album to give you an idea: “Tip Your Bartender,” “Mu Empire,” “Cosmopolitan Blood Loss,” “Ape Dos Mil,” “Pink Roses,” “Stuck Pig,” “Radio Cambodia,” “Gillette Cavalcade of Sports,” and “Two Tabs of Mescaline.” There are only two songs on this album that I am not too fond of. I don’t really hate them either, I just think they’re a tad too slow-paced and disorganized for my taste. Nevertheless, this album has fast songs, slow songs, medium-paced songs, songs of all types. “Mu Empire” is a medium-paced song that follows the chaotic “Tip Your Bartender” and precedes the blistering “Cosmopolitan Blood Loss.” It’s a strange place to put the song, but it works. There is the aforementioned drum work by Gorman, but the strength of the song lies in the vocals. There are parts of the song where slow and subtle parts are being played while Palumbo wails emo-style. It’s very cool. The chorus is melodic, with well-done, soothing, backup vocals. “Radio Cambodia” is probably the fastest song on the album, and it’ll appeal to those who like crazy tempo in their music. The pace is vigorous, and it will kick your ass. The guitar work is amazing, with sweet little leads playing over chord progressions. The breakdown in the middle is well done, and acts as a good progression to the climax of the song. It’s like a very fast Thursday song. “Gillette Cavalcade of Sports” (my second favorite song on the album) starts off with a slow melody that builds up to an amazing chorus. This song has a very interesting breakdown where Palumbo starts doing play by play, but instead of narrating a sport, he’s talking about himself. In a horse-racing announcer’s voice he shouts “In first is my heart, closely followed by my mind, in third my body, and coming up from the rear is my soul.” It’s weird, but pretty cool. That breakdown summarizes Glassjaw as a band. They’re different, but so amazing. I look at them as a hybrid of Thursday and the Deftones, with some uniqueness that I can’t point a finger at. I love this band, and I find them to be better than Thursday, or any of the post-hardcore sounding bands that are coming out. This album is a definite improvement over their first (and still very good) outing, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence. The album from start to finish (the final song, “Two Tabs of Mescaline” is definitely worth mentioning, but I don’t want to make this too much of a novel) is a wonderful effort. I'm not sugar-coating this review either. This is one of those amazing albums that comes along once in a long while. Although the band is on a major label now, they haven’t lost their touch at all. They’ve only gotten better… favorite song: "cosmopolitan blood loss" rating:96%/100% listen to glassjaw